We help win asylum in the United States for those persecuted in
their home country because of their sexual orientation, transgender identity,
or HIV-status.

Through education, outreach, advocacy, and the maintenance of a
nationwide network of resources, we fight for those who are threatened by
persecution or the discriminatory impact of immigration law.

Human Rights Watch conducts regular,
systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some seventy countries
around the world. Our reputation for timely, reliable disclosures has made us
an essential source of information for those concerned with human rights. We
address the human rights practices of governments of all political stripes, of
all geopolitical alignments, and of all ethnic and religious persuasions. Human
Rights Watch defends freedom of thought and expression, due process and equal
protection of the law, and a vigorous civil society; we document and denounce
murders, disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, discrimination, and
other abuses of internationally recognized human rights. Our goal is to hold
governments accountable if they transgress the rights of their people.

Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the
founding of its Europe and Central Asia division (then known as Helsinki
Watch). Today, it also includes divisions covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, it
includes three thematic divisions on arms, children's rights, and women's
rights. It maintains offices in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, San Francisco, Tashkent, Toronto, and Washington. Human Rights
Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by
contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no
government funds, directly or indirectly.

This report was written by Scott Long, director of the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Program of Human Rights
Watch; Jessica Stern, researcher in the LGBT Rights Program of Human Rights
Watch; and Adam Francoeur, program coordinator of Immigration Equality. Jessica Stern conducted the bulk of the interviews with assistance from Adam Francoeur and Scott Long.

The report is based on research conducted between 2003 and
2006. Immigration Equality surveyed binational same-sex couples via
questionnaire between March 2003 and November 2004; they received approximately
900 responses that laid the groundwork for future documentation and conceptual
development. In late 2004, Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality
formally decided to collaborate on this report. Human Rights Watch and
Immigration Equality conducted interviews via telephone and in-person around
the United States between October 2004 and January 2006 with thirty-three
binational same-sex couples. Sixteen were lesbian-identified, fifteen were
gay-identified, and two had one partner who was transgender. In addition to
the range of countries represented among the 900 survey respondents, the
non-citizen partners among the couples interviewed were from: Argentina, Australia, the Bahamas, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Rwanda, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Numerous people in the U.S. and in exile around the world
who cannot be named for reasons of security participated in this research in
invaluable ways. We give our deep thanks to the many couples and individuals
we worked with on this report.

At Human Rights Watch, this report was edited by Joe
Saunders, deputy program director; Dinah Pokempner, general counsel; Alison
Parker, senior researcher in the U.S. Program; and Jamie Fellner, director of
the U.S. Program. We are grateful to our colleagues for the advice they gave
us: Rebecca Schleifer, researcher in the HIV/AIDS Program; Joe Amon, director
of the HIV/AIDS Program; and William Frelick, director of Refugee Policy. Andrea Holley, manager of Outreach and Public Education, provided endless support with all
aspects of production. We give our deep thanks to Jessica Robertson, intern in
the LGBT Rights Program, who provided critical research assistance and beyond.
Lance Lattig, media editor, provided communications advice. Liba Beyer, associate director, Development and Outreach, was instrumental in developing
outreach and advocacy strategies.

Human Rights Watch expresses its gratitude to Henry van
Ameringen, Alvin H. Baum, the David Bohnett Foundation, the David Geffen
Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation the Gill Foundation,
James C. Hormel and Timothy Wu, the Pomegranate Foundation, Ann B. Snitow,
Jeanne and Joseph Sullivan, the Tides Foundation, and Reid Williams for their
ongoing support of its work on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people's
rights.

Immigration Equality thanksits entire office along
with former staff and interns. Specifically, we thank Lavi Soloway,
Jennifer Higgins, Pradeep Singla, April Herms, and Heather Betz for their
advice, encouragement and work with same-sex binational couples and LGBT and
HIV-positive immigrants. We also thank former interns Tara Polansky, Fadi
Hanna, and Aaron Morris for their contributions to drafts of this report.
We give our deep thanks to Rachel B. Tiven, Victoria Neilson, Sarah Sohn, and
Adam Pedersen-Doherty for their support in publishing this report.

Immigration Equality expresses deep appreciation to those
who have made our work possible: the Arcus Foundation; the Evelyn and Walter
Haas Jr., Fund; the Ford Foundation; the Open Society Institute; and the Paul
Rapoport Foundation.

Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality thank
Congressman Jerrold Nadler and his staff, along with Senator Leahy and his
staff, for their leadership in Congress struggling for justice for same-sex
binational couples and LGBT immigrants and their families.

Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality wish to
acknowledge gratefully the work of the many organizations and individuals
supporting the rights of binational same-sex couples. For their advice,
insight and wisdom, we particularly thank: Anna Browne of Bay Area Immigrant
Rights Coalition; Nancy Buermeyer, Cerissa Cafasso, and Mark Glaze of The Raben
Group; Cathy Chang and the members of Las Buenas Amigas; Debanuj Dasgupta of
the Queer Immigrant Rights Project; Marta Donayre and Leslie Bulbuk of Love
Sees No Borders; Jennifer Hope of CUNY Law School; Mark Kightlinger; Martha
McDevitt-Pugh of Love Exiles; Matthew McTighe of the Human Rights Campaign;
Andrew Park;Roberta Sklar of the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force; and Paul Zakrzewski.. Human Rights Watch and
Immigration Equality offer our gratitude and thanks to Steptoe and Johnson,
LLC; William Isasi; and our colleagues in Brazil, Sonia Correa, Roger Raupp Rios,
and Beto de Jesus for their research on global same-sex immigration rights. We
thank Gary Gates for his thorough research into same-sex binational couples
according to the 2000 U.S. Census. Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality
thank Chris Daley of the Transgender Law Center, Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Cole Thaler of Lambda Legal Defense and Education
Fund, for their guidance on transgender issues in immigration. We also thank
Sebastian Cordoba, Machu Latorre and Tracey Luszcz for their visual expertise
and support.

Finally, we acknowledge the groundbreaking work of Lionel
Cantu. Mr. Cantu's research on the impact of sexuality and migration
within Mexican men-who-have-sex-with-men communities was highly influential in
this report. We also thank Nancy Naples for her support and efforts to
continue Lionel's work. Lionel Cantu died unexpectedly in Santa Cruz on May 26, 2002. We hope this report will help sustain his legacy and
work.

This report is for the thousands of binational same-sex
couples who struggle under the devastating burdens of U.S. immigration policy and non-recognition of their relationships for a simple wish: to be loving
families with one another.

The first time that I dreamed, we were in flight. …

We came at once to a tall house, its door

Wide open, waiting for the long-lost heirs.

An elderly clerk sat on the bedroom stairs

Writing; but we had tiptoed past him when

He raised his head and stuttered: "Go away."

We wept and begged to stay;

He wiped his pince-nez, hesitated, then

Said no, he had no power to give us leave:

Our lives were not in order; we must leave.

W. H. Auden, "The Lesson"

I love my partner with every thing in me. … Thanks to the
immigration laws they have taken my dreams and my heart and thrown them to the
wind. I always thought when I found the love of my life, the onlyapproval
I would have ever cared about was of my mom and dad. Who would have thought
that I needed the government to tell me that I can only fall in love
here in the United States and even here I don't have a choice. The heart has no
boundaries, it merely goes where it is loved.

E-mail from "Denise" (a clerk at Wal-Mart in Louisiana), forced to live on a different continent from her Dutch partner "Karla"